A Kentucky-based investment partnership has paid $5.9 million for properties on Lower Broadway where it plans a 110-room boutique hotel and three restaurants.

Barkley Lake Inn expects to start construction soon after obtaining building permits. The project will be the first in the Nashville area for the partnership, which focuses on hospitality and restaurants and has been scouting downtown area sites for four years.

Barkley Lake Inn bought the properties totaling one-third acre with addresses at 215 Broadway and 110 Third Ave. S. from Mayesco LLC. The buildings became vacant three years ago after records storage company Richard & Richards moved out after 27 years at that location.

They were part of a larger site on which separate developers had plans for a Westin and a Hyatt Regency hotel before both projects fell through.

The hotel Barkley Lake Inn plans will occupy the upper floors of both buildings with an entrance on Third Avenue South. An upscale restaurant with indoor and outdoor space is planned for the rooftop of the building at 215 Broadway.

Another full-service restaurant will occupy space on the ground floor of that building and a coffee/sandwich shop that's expected to serve breakfast will be in the hotel's lobby fronting Third Avenue.

Among them, an investment partnership that includes Royal Investments owner Alex Marks, developer Bill Barkley and investors Jennifer and Billy Frist plans a boutique project between Fourth Avenue North and Printers Alley. Louisville, Ky.-based 21c Museum Hotels also plans a location at 222 Third Ave. N.

Seth Harlan and Charles Robin of Nashville-based brokerage firm Robin Realty Co. represented both buyer Barkley Lake Inn and seller Mayesco LLC in the transaction. Separately, Mayesco also has a contract to sell the building at Broadway and Third Avenue South that's currently home to a Trail West boots store to another entity.